Quranic root
تعس
t · ʿ · s
The root centers on being cast down or falling headlong into a ruinous state.
From the basic image of casting down, the attested branches extend to stumbling and falling, perishing, removal, degradation, and causative ruin; the verbal noun can express an imprecation of such a downfall.
- Maqāyīs · row 936
- Lane · entry 16696
- 1
- Quran-attested forms
- 2
- Quran senses
- 1
- Quran occurrences
Forms in the Quran
The forms this root actually takes in the Quran. Select one to jump to its senses and examples.
تَعْس
taʿs
- Part of speech
- Verbal noun
- Quran occurrences
- 1 occurrence
Selected examples are shown with the sense they illustrate — chosen to teach that sense, not the complete list of this form’s Quran occurrences.
A downfall after stumbling from which one does not recover; a ruinous fall.
In the Quranic imprecatory construction فَتَعْسًا لَهُمْ, the noun evokes falling into a state of irreversible abasement or ruin.
- Mufradāt · row 185
- Lane · entry 16696
Selected Quran examples
Quran 47:8word 3
“destruction (is)”
Destruction or perishing invoked as an imprecation: ruin befall them.
The accusative verbal noun in فَتَعْسًا لَهُمْ functions as an imprecation and may be rendered as ruin, destruction, or perishing.
- Lane · entry 16696
Selected Quran examples
Quran 47:8word 3
“destruction (is)”
Occurrences in the Quran
Every place this root appears, in Quran order. The first few are shown here.
- 47:8فَتَعْسًۭاdestruction (is)
Broader Classical Arabic meanings
Recorded for this root in the Classical lexicons beyond its Quran usage. These are secondary to the Quran senses above.
Show 9 Classical meanings
تَعَسَ
To stumble and fall, including falling forward or upon the face; more generally, to fall.
The descriptions of falling upon the hands, mouth, or face are attested variants of the manner of falling, not obligatory restrictions.
- Lane · entry 16696
تَعَسَ
To miss one's proof in litigation or the object of one's search.
A specialized usage attested in connection with disputation and seeking.
- Lane · entry 16696
تَعَسَ
To perish or be destroyed.
The verb may also occur in an imprecatory address wishing someone to perish.
- Lane · entry 16696
تَعَسَ
To become far removed.
- Lane · entry 16696
تَعَسَ
To become lowered or degraded; of fortune, to decline.
- Lane · entry 16696
تَعَسَهُ؛ أَتْعَسَ
To cause someone to stumble and fall; hence to make him perish, become far removed, or be brought low.
A causative transitive construction, including expressions in which God is the agent; it can also describe causing fortune to decline.
- Lane · entry 16696
- Lane · entry 16697
تَعْس
Evil or mischief.
A nominal meaning distinct from the verbal-noun sense of downfall or destruction.
- Lane · entry 16698
تَعِسٌ؛ تَاعِسٌ
A person who stumbles or falls; تَاعِسٌ may also describe ill fortune.
Active-participial forms used intransitively and applied to a person; the fortune application is specifically associated with تَاعِسٌ.
- Lane · entry 16700
مَتْعَسَةٌ
A cause of stumbling and falling; figuratively, a cause of ill luck.
A noun naming an occasion, affair, or circumstance that brings about such a fall or misfortune.
- Lane · entry 16701
Cautions
Points that affect how this root should be read.
The Lane Quran citation uses historical notation and is not converted into a modern 47:9 location; the displayed occurrence at 47:8:3 is independently supplied by QAC.
The Quranic imprecation is lexically interpretable as either a ruinous downfall or destruction/perishing, accounting for variation among translations.